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Raised Teeth Inlay

Below are pictures of a knife I am currently working on. I want to deep relief work on it so I chose to only do raised teeth inlay rather than side undercuts. This is my first time trying the raised teeth method and I was curious as to whether or not the spacing on my teeth was too small or too far. Also I had one spot where the teeth were flush with the surface, will this cause problems when inlaying the copper?

I don't think this will work with copper. Copper is borderline too hard for overlay. It will hold if the base metal is hard enough for the teeth to stand up but usually copper will not hold well at all on a tooth field. Good luck.

You talk about deep relief. Are you planning to relieve the areas between the scroll and the toothed border? Or Where?
Are the copper borders going to be raised or flush?
If they are going to be flush the top of all the teeth need to be lower than the surrounded metal of course.
A better way to secure the copper borders would have been to undercut the sides of the channel BEFORE THE FINAL ENGRAVING OF THE SCROLL and then finishing the raised edges down flush. Clean the debris from channel and cut the teeth in the bottom.
If the copper is to be flush it would then be installed and stoned or sanded down.
A raised border can also be installed at this stage, trimmed but without it's final finish.
Then the scroll should have received it's final outline cuts except for minor touch up after relief work.
I realize you bought a pre-laid out knife so in your case a light cut of the scroll pattern first was in order to preserve the design during following surface stoning or sanding. Then a final main line cutting before background removal.
Please study the order of engraving. I believe there may be a list in the archives section. It will make your projects much easier.
A raised line border or inlay is very subject to wear and damage on a USER knife but OK on a demo or closet queen.
I wish you luck with this project and look forward to seeing it when finished.

I realize you bought a pre-laid out knife so in your case a light cut of the scroll pattern first was in order to preserve the design during following surface stoning or sanding. Then a final main line cutting before background removal.
Please study the order of engraving. I believe there may be a list in the archives section. It will make your projects much easier.

It needs to be flush so what I am going to do is go back and cut out the teeth and level the channel that is intended for the inlay. I will then undercut the sides rather than the raised teeth method as some are suggesting. In regards to the order, I've seen on here that people recommend cutting the inlay channel with the outlining cuts for the scroll but holding off on the inlay portion till the near end. What would you recommend in regards to the order? I still need to do background removal, shading, darkening/bluing, and obviously inlay.

Also, thank you, Jerry, for the insight. The channel isn't super wide so I will remove the teeth and do undercuts instead.

Cutting out teeth is OK. But I would cut them out, undercut the sides of the channel, stone or sand down the raise edges and remove debris from the channel. I would advise to then re-cut teeth in the bottom of you channel because your channel is quite wide and copper needs all the help it can get to stay in the groove.
IMO you need both side undercuts and teeth on this project. After you cut the bottom teeth across the groove drag an uncut square graver across the channel to make sure all the teeth are below the surface of your knife and won't show through your copper.

Cutting out teeth is OK. But I would cut them out, undercut the sides of the channel, stone or sand down the raise edges and remove debris from the channel. I would advise to then re-cut teeth in the bottom of you channel because your channel is quite wide and copper needs all the help it can get to stay in the groove.
IMO you need both side undercuts and teeth on this project. After you cut the bottom teeth across the groove drag an uncut square graver across the channel to make sure all the teeth are below the surface of your knife and won't show through your copper.

Perfect thank you, John. Should I perform the background removal before or after inlaying the copper?

Perfect thank you, John. Should I perform the background removal before or after inlaying the copper?

Relieve the background after inlaying the copper and stoning or sanding flush. If you are going to relieve the area between the outside your scroll and your copper you will need to cut a line on the inside of your copper, of course